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by the_one_that_fell



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Polyamory, Queerplatonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 18:30:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9838130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_one_that_fell/pseuds/the_one_that_fell
Summary: "If only they knew," Jack thought to himself. "How lucky I am to go home to three people."





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [palateens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/palateens/gifts).



Jack loved playing for the Falconers, but if he had to suffer through one more of these charity galas or publicity events, he thought he might scream. At least he wasn’t alone for this one, but Lardo hated this crap as much as he did. Bitty would’ve enjoyed the evening far more than either of them, but  _ he _ was currently chatting up half of Harvard Law at one of Shitty's mixers. At least having Lardo on his arm wouldn’t cause a major scandal in the sports world.

_ If only they knew _ , Jack thought to himself.  _ How lucky I am to go home to three people.  _

As if reading his thoughts, Lardo sighed and slumped against his shoulder. Jack chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Glad  _ that’s _ over,” he muttered. She nodded, rubbing at her eyes and smudging her eyeliner. It was such an endearingly  _ Lardo _ thing to do that Jack leaned down to peck her lips gently. She started at the contact, but laughed into the kiss. 

“You’re so handsy tonight,” she said, looking up at him with tired eyes. “Usually these things make you super cranky.”

Jack shrugged. It hadn’t been the worst event he’d ever been forced to attend, and he’d spent a good part of the night listening to Tater tease Lardo for being so short. He was feeling pretty good. 

Still, he couldn't wait to get home. 

 

* * *

 

_ Jack and Shitty had been dancing around each other since freshman orientation. There'd been a pull between them since they’d stood next to each other on their taddy tour and Shitty had whispered along with his own commentary, making Jack chuckle under his breath.  _

_ Jack didn’t do “love,” he was certain. Hooking up with Kenny had been fun until it wasn’t and, sure, Jack felt a warm, intense sort of love for his family — Shitty included — but the whole, schmoopy, passionate kind of love in movies and romance novels...that wasn’t Jack’s deal. He couldn’t imagine putting that much trust and emotion in the hands of one, single person.  _

_ But if he had to choose anyone, Jack thought he would choose Shitty. Shitty was loud and vibrant in the daylight, but so, so patient with Jack when it was just the two of them. Shitty never took offense to any of Jack’s moods or rude behaviors, never let Jack dampen his day. Shitty had forced himself into Jack’s life and made a nice, cozy spot for himself in Jack’s heart, stubbornly refusing to budge, no matter how angry or withdrawn Jack got.  _

_ He was almost like Kenny in that regard, except he never fought back — at least, not in a way Jack recognized. Shitty took Jack’s barbs and bitter silences and turned them into vulnerabilities in Jack’s exoskeleton, openings in Jack's heart. Before Jack even realized it, Shitty had gotten past his armor and defenses and made himself Jack’s best friend. _

_ Jack loved him for it, in the same way he loved his parents and uncles and Kenny, but also in a new way, a way that sparked something deep in the pit of his stomach.  _

_ Jack didn’t do “love,” but he knew some part of him was falling for Shitty. So he did was he did best — Jack said nothing but clung to Shitty’s friendship like it was the only thing keeping his head above water. _

_ Things changed when he met Larissa Duan and Eric Bittle. _

 

* * *

  
  


Jack took Lardo’s hand and they wandered down the street together in a comfortable silence. It was chilly out, but Lardo seemed unaffected. Of course, after knowing Bittle for so long, anyone seemed unaffected by the cold in comparison. 

They trooped up the stairs to Jack’s apartment still holding hands. Though quiet, Lardo was tactile, and he found she was able to say more through hugs and holding hands than she could with words. It was something they had in common. 

Both content to be home, they pushed open the apartment door to find Shitty and Bitty tangled together on the couch. 

 

* * *

 

_ Bitty had seen the way his boyfriend looked at Shitty.  _

_ If he was being honest, it was the way he looked at Shitty, too, on occasion.  _

_ Maybe it should’ve made him feel insecure, worried, but he knew where he and Jack stood. He also knew what kind of history Jack and Shitty had, the deep-rooted, intense friendship they’d cultivated over the years. There was  _ something _ there.  _

_ But if he’d learned anything from Shitty, it was that relationships didn’t have to be constrained by the heteronormative standards of their society. He’d heard one too many rants on how the nuclear family was a capitalist trap to not be aware of polyamorous relationships.  _

_ Unfortunately, Shitty’s rants never explained exactly how to broach the subject of opening up his relationship with Jack Zimmermann.  _

_ Bitty really had meant to approach it subtly, maybe bring it up after a party, just to have the excuse of alcohol if Jack reacted negatively. Instead, he sat down to dinner in Jack’s apartment and immediately said, “I think we should date Shitty.”  _

_ And that was how Eric Bittle nearly killed Jack Zimmermann. Thank the good Lord that he’d gone through heimlich training for his summers spent as a camp counselor.  _

 

* * *

 

Bitty was straddling Shitty on the couch, dress shirt unbuttoned, cheeks flushed from wine. They'd both been clearly holding back, exchanging soft, sleepy kisses as they waited for Jack and Lardo to return. 

The moment the door open, Shitty sat up so fast he nearly knocked Bitty to the floor. Bitty yelped and clung to Shitty’s shoulders, face lighting up when he saw the others come in. 

“Getting started without us?” Lardo asked with a smirk. Bitty rolled his eyes and Shitty laughed. 

“We ordered Thai, like, ten minutes ago. Hope you're hungry,” he said, flopping back against the couch. 

Before Jack could say anything, Lardo had launched herself across the room to jump into Shitty’s lap, kissing him soundly for having such a wonderful idea. 

“You guys are the best,” she said, tugging Bitty back to curl up against her. Bitty complied enthusiastically, winding his arms around her waist. 

When they'd first started this whole relationship, the biggest concern had been the relationship between Bitty and Lardo. Bitty was a hundred percent, unfailingly gay and both Jack and Shitty had worried about that the lack of romantic or sexual attraction between the two of them might be a weak link in the tentative, delicate thing they'd built between the four of them. 

In retrospect, that had been an unfounded fear. Bitty and Lardo were as thick as thieves, and while they didn't feel anything but platonic love towards each other, the strength of their relationship was not diminished by the more romantic feelings among the rest of them. 

 

* * *

 

_ If Bitty were not 100% gay, he was pretty sure he’d been in love with Lardo.  _

_ Possibly he was only thinking that because she was currently hemming his new khakis for him; they’d been a present from Moomaw and they were fabulous but just a tad too long and he didn’t want to return them but he also wanted to save his money for butter, so he’d gone to Lardo with promises of all the chocolatey desserts she wanted if she helped him out. So here they were, chatting and hemming and plotting out Bitty’s baking schedule, just two best friends enjoying an afternoon together. _

_ “So I hear you and your boy both want to date  _ my _ boy,” Lardo said the moment she had Bitty’s left leg captive. Surely she was the most devious and cunning manager the team had ever known.  _

_ “Um,” was Bitty’s eloquent response.  _

_ “I’m guessing you didn’t actually think Jack would be interested, huh?” Lardo said with a smirk. “Or that he’d talk to Shitty without you.” _

_ Bitty gritted his teeth. “He’s certainly going to get an earful from me tonight, that’s for sure.”  _

_ Lardo laughed, which made Bitty feel a bit better. “I do wish you’d given me a bit of heads up, but it’s chill, man. Shits and I are open, you all know that. But I’m a little hurt I don’t get to jump on the Zimmer-booty bandwagon, too.”  _

_ Bitty suddenly felt like a major idiot. He knew Jack was bi. He knew Jack and Lardo had a weird, silent, intense friendship that no one, not even Shitty, understood. He should have put the pieces together.  _

_ “I mean…” Bitty watched as Lardo deftly pinned his hem, not meeting his eyes. “I wouldn’t be opposed. To you dating Jack, that is. I can’t speak for him, but I know y’all got something special.” _

_ It might’ve been a trick of the light, but Bitty was almost certain Lardo was  _ blushing _. Ooh, this was gonna be fun.  _

_ “Oh. Um. Good. Thanks?” Lardo was suddenly out of her element and Bitty couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll...talk to him, then. Him and Shits.”  _

_ “You and Jack  _ talking _?” Bitty gasped, hand over his heart. “I never thought I’d live to see the day.”  _

_ Just for that, Lardo jabbed her pin into his ankle.  _

 

* * *

 

It warmed Jack’s heart, watching Bitty curl into Lardo who was squashed up against Shitty. These were the three people he loved most in the world, and seeing them all together, in love with each other, made him more content and at peace than he'd ever felt in his life. 

There was a knock at the door and Jack was voted as the person to answer. He heaved himself up with a sigh and paid for the food, shoving far too much money in the delivery boy’s hand as a tip, then ambled back to the couch where the other three waited hungrily. 

* * *

 

_ The tension between the four of them was almost tangible.  _

_ Jack knew no one would see him at this restaurant and immediately think, “Jack Zimmermann, NHL player and legendary fuck-up, is in a poly relationship! Look at his two boyfriends and one girlfriend — so unnatural!” If he were recognized at all, people would assume he was getting dinner with friends. He knew that, logically, but the fear of being found out was overwhelming.  _

_ That in itself was not the root of the tension; t _ _ his was their first date as a unit.  _

_ This was the first time the four of them had been together in the same room since they’d started this relationship.  _

_ Surprisingly, Bitty looked the most at-ease of the four of them. Shitty wouldn’t stop fiddling with his napkin and Lardo kept chewing on her thumbnail, but Bitty was as happy and chatty as always, holding up the conversation for all four of them.  _

_ “Ooh, Lardo, sweetheart,” he said, reaching across the table to grab her hand. “They have crème brûlée — we have to get it!”  _

_ And then it was like a dam was broken. Just because their relationships to each other were changing and evolving didn’t mean their core group dynamics were. It didn’t matter that he was now dating Lardo’s boyfriend as well as his own — Bitty was still bright and excitable and obsessed with dessert. He was still Bitty. They were still them.  _

_ The night ended with the four of them curled up in Jack’s bed, watching cat videos on YouTube and drinking spiked cocoa — something that might’ve happened before any of them were dating at all, except for the occasional, soft kisses traded between them.  _

* * *

 

As they chowed down on their curries and noodles, they fell into easy conversation. Jack pulled Bitty’s legs into his lap, resting his plate on Bitty’s knees. He squeezed Bitty’s thighs every now and then, just to earn that fond smile. 

Shitty fed Lardo noodles from his pad kee mao like a mama bird offering worms. Bitty laughed at them, squawking when Shitty nearly dropped food in his hair. Jack watched the three of them goof off and eat their fill, heart swelling with love. 

And he could admit to himself now, that maybe he  _ did _ do love. And maybe, just maybe, he did it with these three people who held firm places in his heart. 

It didn’t matter if he could put a word to it, though. All Jack knew for certain was that he wanted them with him for the rest of his life.

He felt three smiles pointed his way, and Jack felt that the future was feeling bright.

**Author's Note:**

> I love this dynamic so much, I definitely want to write more of the ot4 :)


End file.
